SUBJECT:    Cross

QUESTION:  How many times is the word “cross” used in the Bible and is the word “crux” or "stauros"?

ANSWER:

cross (KJV)  26 uses of the word cross.  All are the word “stauros” or Strong’s word 4716----stake

Matthew 10:38

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Matthew 16:24

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  

Matthew 27:32

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

Matthew 27:40

And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 

Matthew 27:42

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 

Mark 8:34

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Mark 10:21

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Mark 15:21

And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 

Mark 15:30

Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

Mark 15:32

Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

Luke 9:23

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 14:27

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

Luke 23:26

And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.  

John 19:17

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

John 19:19

And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

John 19:25

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.  

John 19:31

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  

1 Corinthians 1:17

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.  

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Galatians 5:11

And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.  

Galatians 6:12

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.  

Galatians 6:14

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.  

Ephesians 2:16

And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:   (KJV)

Philippians 2:8

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.   (

Philippians 3:18

(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:  

Colossians 1:20

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.  

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ALL ARE THE WORD “STAUROS”---STRONGS WORD 4716

4716  stauros (stow-ros');

from the base of 2476; a stake or post (as set upright), i.e. (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively, exposure to death, i.e. self-denial; by implication, the atonement of Christ:

KJV-- cross.

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The sign of the cross and the cross itself is of pagan origin.  Go to this web site for a full explanation:

http://www.piney.com/His56.html    The Two Babylons - The Sign of the Cross -Alexander Hislop

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Following is a definition of "cross" from a Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words

CROSS, CRUCIFY

 A. Noun.

 stauros ^4716^ denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the

noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of

a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god

Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including

Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A. D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines

of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into

the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence

the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ.

 As for the Chi, or X, which Constantine declared he had seen in a vision leading him to champion the Christian faith,

that letter was the initial of the word "Christ" and had nothing to do with "the Cross" (for xulon, "a timber beam, a tree,"

as used for the stauros, see under TREE).

 

 The method of execution was borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians. The stauros denotes (a)

"the cross, or stake itself," e. g., <Matt. 27:32>; (b) "the crucifixion suffered," e. g., <1 Cor. 1:17-18>, where "the

word of the cross," RV, stands for the gospel; <Gal. 5:11>, where crucifixion is metaphorically used of the renunciation

of the world, that characterizes the true Christian life; <6:12,14; Eph. 2:16; Phil. 3:18>.

 

 The judicial custom by which the condemned person carried his stake to the place of execution, was applied by the

Lord to those sufferings by which His faithful followers were to express their fellowship with Him, e. g., <Matt. 10:38>.

 

 B. Verbs.

 1. stauroo ^4717^ signifies (a) "the act of crucifixion," e. g., <Matt. 20:19>; (b) metaphorically, "the putting off of the

flesh with its passions and lusts," a condition fulfilled in the case of those who are "of Christ Jesus," <Gal. 5:24>, RV; so

of the relationship between the believer and the world, <6:14>.

 

 2. sustauroo ^4957^, "to crucify with" (sufor," sun, "with"), is used (a) of actual "crucifixion" in company with another,

<Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32; John 19:32>; (b) metaphorically, of spiritual identification with Christ in His death, <Rom.

6:6>, and <Gal. 2:20>.#

 

 3. anastauroo ^388^ (ana, again) is used in <Heb. 6:6> of Hebrew apostates, who as merely nominal Christians, in

turning back to Judaism, were thereby virtually guilty of "crucifying" Christ again.#

 

 4. prospegnumi ^4362^, "to fix or fasten to anything" (pros, "to," pegnumi, "to fix"), is used of the "crucifixion" of

Christ, <Acts 2:23>.# ~from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words

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Notice how the stake is referred to in these scriptures:

Acts 5:30      "Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree"

Acts 10:39     "whom they slew and hanged on a tree"

Acts 13:29     "they took him down from the tree"

1 Peter 2:24   "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree"

Galatians 3:13 "Christ... being made a curse upon us... Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree"

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Following is Mr. Armstrong’s answer to this question:

Re: Cross.  The NT was not written in English.  The Greek word used everywhere for "cross" is "stauros".  The exhaustive concordance says, "A stake or post (as set upright), i.e., a POLE or cross as an instrument of capital punishment."  The X is a pagan symbol, found in dozens of nations from ancient Babylon to modern-day Germany.  There was a placard above Jesus' head with an inscription, but not a cross member.  See Bullinger's companion Bible, in the notes next to the words "cross" and his appendix on the subject.  Luke quoted Peter as having said they affixed Christ to a "tree" (Acts 5:30;10:39). If he had meant a cross, he would have used a word connoting it.  There is no etymological connection between "stauros" and "crux", in the Latin, from which the English "cross' derives, any more than there is a connection between soil or sky.  The reason they broke the legs was to hasten death, because the agony of heaving oneself upright to breathe would have caused suffocation. Since no sacrifice could have been "strangled", and the sacrificial Lamb was to have its blood shed, Christ had to die by His shed blood, not suffocation.  The shoulders would be virtually pulled out of their sockets with both arms pinioned overhead by a single spike through the wrists.  Any research into the ENGLISH word "cross" will only lead you to various uses of the symbol in history, and Catholic contentions that it was the instrument of Christ's death.  That the great false Babylon Mystery religion uses the cross as its primary symbol is a significant clue in itself. 

CONCLUSION

It seems clear the word "crux" was never used in any of the early manuscripts.